Stadium for Dynamo CCC final still up in the air

Should the Dynamo hold on to their lead in the CONCACAF Champions Cup semfinal, and advance to the final, the Orange would be making a huge statement, make history, and make for even more international competition later in the year.

There may be a downside, though: where would Houston play in our leg in the CCC final? The Dynamo had to play their quarterfinal leg in College Station against Puntarenas because of a U of H rule disallowing midweek games at Robertson Stadium when school is in session. We lucked out in the semifinal, because the date the Dynamo played Pachuca happened to be during spring break. But for the final, we’re back to square one: school is back in session.

I’m hearing from the Dynamo that there still is no agreement with U of H for having an exception to this rule, and no sign that U of H will accommodate this unusual situation. Reliant Stadium is out of the question because of the massive Offshore Technology Conference at Reliant Park. If the final is against DC United, Houston would host April 17, 18, or 19. If against Chivas, it would be a week later.

The Dynamo are exploring all their options, but right now there’s no good answer that’s come up. That’s a real shame, because it’s hard to conceive of hosting a massively popular team like Chivas of Guadalajara, in the final leg of the CCC championship (effectively, the championship game), at the Aggie soccer complex, for example.

The difficulties with the CCC this month has given more proof, as though we needed any more, that the Dynamo have got to get their own facility that they control.

Eddie Robinson on The Tube

I caught Eddie Robinson on Channel 55’s Sports Off Center last night. I know they’ve done a number of Dynamo stories over the past year, and host Craig Roberts is really good in treating soccer as a legitimate part of the Houston sports scene. The banter between Robinson and Roberts, seated at a local Hooters, was lively and entertaining.

The episode with Robinson will repeat tonight at 10:00. I like the goofy, low-budget humor of the show; my better half constantly rolled her eyes in disbelief that I was laughing.

Roberts was knowledgeable about the sport and the Dynamo, asking some good questions about the defender’s mental preparations to counter his opposition before a game, and in a shock departure from more Houston sports media figures, could pronounce “Pachuca” and “CONCACAF.” And Robinson, whom I haven’t seen a lot of in the media, was intelligent and effusive. Really, Robinson could really be used as an anchor of the Dynamo’s public face, as much as Brian Ching–he’s that personable on TV.

Even more, The Tube will be the local TV home of the Dynamo, broadcasting about half their games; and Glenn Davis has hinted there might be a regular Dynamo analysis show. So, Dynamo fans, get used to going to channel 55 this season.

Toronto can play!

There’s a report out that FIFA’s executive committee has just agreed to allow Toronto F.C. to play in MLS this season. It seems like this is something that should have happened long before the new MLS club sold out of their allotment of 14000 full season tickets.

This same story says FIFA has decided to scrap the World Cup rotation system after 2014, which effectively removes that automatic option of giving the 2018 World Cup to the United States. When it comes to FIFA’s long-range planning and their overall integrity, well, I’d need a whole blog entry on that…